5 times tony forgot peter was just a kid
by parkrstark
Summary: ...and the one time he didn't.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

Tony had thought Peter would have learned his lesson by now. Don't take on villains that can obviously crush you like a toothpick.

But no, Peter loved to stick up for the "little guy and stay close to the ground". If Tony knew how many times his own advice would come back to bite him in the ass, he'd never have said it.

He'd been doing doing a great job of keeping common criminals off the streets and helping out the NYPD here or there.

Tony hadn't been seeing him a lot lately, as he was caught upstate as the Avengers attempted to try and reunite and fix the Accords.

He wasn't going to even come to Queens until FRIDAY had alerted him that Peter was fighting and not doing so well. That was the Tattletale setting on the suit. It came in handy when the suit was being worn by a teenage boy hell bent on fighting every single villain that walks with earth. Without calling in any backup.

So he hopped in a suit and hauled ass to where he saw Peter's location on the GPS. The entire flight, he prayed to see Peter in one piece.

When he finally arrived on the scene, he saw that Peter was holding his own, but with this douchebag in an armor that looked like a Transformer, he was starting to struggle from fatigue and all the hits he was taking.

Tony swooped in alongside Peter and started to shoot his repulsors at the man. Peter stopped briefly to look over at him and Tony could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Mr. Stark! Thanks for coming. What should I do to help?"

Tony shot the man in his robotic arm. "Just keep doing what you're doing, kid."

Peter nodded once and then swung on his web to attack this 8 foot monster from another side. He seemed to be fighting even harder than he was before.

Tony started to shoot his repulsors, hoping that the painful shots of energy caught its attention more than little webs.

After almost twenty minutes of fighting and out trash talking one another, Tony thought they were golden. Peter was webbing up his feet and Tony was shooting him repeatedly. Once they had him down, Tony could finish him off.

But, just as Peter was starting to slow down on all the webbing, because it was thick and how could anything tear through that, things went to hell.

The man shouted and with one kick of his giant leg, not only did the webs rip off, but Peter went flying into a wall. He hit the bricks with a loud crunch that would killed any normal 15 year old and fell to the ground in a heap.

Tony felt his heart stop when Peter didn't get back up. He wanted to shout his name to see if he was okay, but he didn't want this ass to even to know Peter's name .

He started running toward where Peter was lying in the street but the man turned to him and smirked. "Youre too late, Iron Man."

And suddenly, Megaton was lifting up his arm with a giant gun, Tony had yet to see in action, and pointed it directly at him. Tony flinched as he was covered in a green sticky mucus looking slime.

Tony was ready to ignore whatever the fuck that was but his suit wasn't moving.

"FRIDAY, what's going on with my suit?" He was frantically trying to move his legs but they stayed locked in place.

"Whatever this is all over your suit has seeped into the cracks and shocked the systems. I cannot get it to function like normal."

"Well, try harder!" Tony yelled as he watched the monster of a man grin down at him before turning back to where Peter was still lying on the ground.

With another loud cackle, he raised his metal fist and brought it down on Peter's chest all while looking Tony in the eye.

Tony wanted to be sick as he did it over and over. Peter was shaking now, struggling to pull himself away. He was only a few feet away and he couldn't save him.

After a particularly nasty fist to his chest, Peter choked on a small whimper, "M-mr. Stark!"

"I'm right here. I'll be there in a second. Just hang in there-."

"I think it's time to crush the little spider." Megatron, as Tony referred to him as because he didn't have his villain name and Megatron was fitting, dragged his metal fingers down Peter's chest.

Tony could hear Peter wheezing into the comm. and it was the most painful thing to listen to. "Let him go!"

Megatron started to pull at Peter's mask. "I think it's time we see what's hiding in here." Tony shouted but that didn't stop Megatron from ripping off Peter's mask.

Megatron paused as he looked down at Peter's bruised and bloody face. He threw the mask over his shoulder and he cackled. "Where are the Avengers finding their recruits now a days? Chuck E Cheese?"

Tony gritted his teeth. "Leave him alone," he repeated.

"36 seconds until system reboot, Boss," FRIDAY finally ssid.

"It's okay, Mr. Stark. I'm okay," Peter mumbled, trying so hard to sound strong but Tony could hear his voice crack at the end of the sentence as he struggled to stay calm.

Megatron just laughed from where he was practically straddling Peter. He had one hand pushing hard on Peter's chest and the other dragging his claws down his cheek. He sang softly, "The Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain," He quickly slashed Peter's cheek as he shouted that one word aggressively.

Tony watched helplessly as Peter's head snapped to the side and the pain on his face betrayed his will to remain stoic.

Megatron sang the last line as he held his razor sharp claws to Peter's neck. "And washed the spider out ."

"Please," Tony found himself begging just to get more time . "He's just a kid," his own voice was breaking in desperation.

"Little boys do not belong in a big boy's world," Megatron snarled as he lifted up his arm, preparing to slam it down into his head.

"Systems rebooted, Boss," FRIDAY said suddenly.

Tony grinned.

Immediately, he flew out and sent himself crashing into .Megatron. They went flying feet away from Peter and metal slamming against metal filled the air.

Tony never let Megaton get the upper hand because if if he did, he let him get a free shot to finish off Peter. And Tony wouldn't let that happen. Ever.

So he slammed his fist into Megatron's face. Too bad that idiot hadn't built a mask to protect his head; it was the only part of his body not covered.

Tony used it to his advantage and didn't stop punching until Megaton's eyes rolled to the back of his head. Tony had a feeling he wasn't going to find a pulse if he even wanted to look.

He barely wasted a moment before he jumped to his feet and ran to Peter. He heard the metal clanking against the cement and Peter didn't even flinch at the noise.

Tony fell to Peter's side, letting his faceplate open. He could hear his heart beating in his ear as he looked Peter over. Half of his face was covered in one big bruise swelling his eye shut. The other cheek was bleeding steadily from four long gashes from the claws.

"Pulse, find a pulse, FRIDAY," he said urgently.

"Pulse found. Medical assistance suggested."

"We-."

"H-Hey, Mr. Stark. How'd I do?"

Tony let out a breath of relief. "You rocked it out there, kid."

Tony winced at the name. He was really just a kid. Only 15 years old. Just a baby. And he was fighting alongside gods and super soldiers and men in metal armor and deadly assassins.

"That's good. Long as you're not mad."

"How could I be mad at you? You saved the day." Tony was desperate to keep him awake.

"Me? I thought you saved me?"

"Nah, kid, you were the one risking your tail out there. I did the easy part." Tony looked at his torn suit and didn't care that it would take some serious time and expenses to fix it. He cared that he didn't know how bad the skin looked underneath it.

"Karen says she's proud too," Peter mumbled, his eyes -well, eye , since the other was swollen- drooped closed.

"Karen?" Tony echoed and just shook his head. He needed to focus on the more important thing. "Stay awake, kid. If you don't wake back up, Aunt May's gonna have my ass."

Peter smiled. "She already doesn't like you. Don't give her more reasons."

"That's why you need to stay up so you can tell her that I don't deserve to get beat." Tony started to lift him off the ground with barely any help from Peter. He looked around at the crowd starting to grow around their battle grounds.

He couldn't go back to get the mask and he didn't want any bystanders snapping pictures of Spider-Man without a mask. So he pulled off his own helmet and placed it on Peter's head.

"Hey," Peter mumbled from inside. "I'm Iron Man."

Tony rolled his eyes as he scooped Peter up in a bridal carry that the kid would have argued if he wasn't suffering from a concussion.

"Used to have one of these as a kid. Wore it to the Stark Expo." Peter tried to lift up his arm and made a pathetic sound of his suit repulser charging.

"Don't hurt yourself, kid." Tony rolled his eyes fondly. He carefully started up the suit and flew above the crowd, ignoring the flashing of cameras.

After a few minutes into the flight, Peter said, "Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we going to a mission? I wanna fight some bad guys."

Tony couldn't help the laugh he let out. "We're gonna lay low and rest for a few days before we go back into battle."

"But I'm ready and raring to go," Peter mumbled, sounding awfully tired and delusional for someone who was ready to "fight some bad guys".

"Well, I'm not, kid. I'm an old man and we need to take breaks between fights or else we pull out a hip."

"Oh. Okay. Maybe next time," Peter said before going quiet again.

Sure, Peter was a kid. But he was a kid that never backed down no matter what. And that's the kind of hero Tony wanted by his side.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

"You have to be kidding me," Steve whispered harshly, trying to keep their conversation from reaching the other ears nearby.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Cap," Tony scoffed. "Which one of us was fighting him in Germany? Because I don't think it was me ."

Tony could see the fury burning in Steve's eyes. He felt a pang of satisfaction. "You didn't tell us he was a kid ."

"He's not a kid, Rogers." Tony rolled his eyes. "He's 15 years old. You haven't seen him in battle; he can hold his own."

"I don't doubt that," Steve said in a low voice. "But he should not be on the battlefield."

"Oh, that's classic coming from you." Tony pointed his finger at him. "You lied on how many applications to try and get into the army?"

Steve looked the other way, rolling his jaw. Years of listening to Howard go on and on about Captain America paid off. "It's different ."

"Oh, really?" Tony moved to get back into Steve's line of vision. "Please explain to me how it's different."

"I wasn't 14-."

" 15 . And at least he won't fall over if he sneezes " Tony snapped and he could see the flash of hurt that Steve quickly wiped off his face. Tony didn't like the feeling that left in his gut.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Steve crossed his arms over his large chest. Tony was definitely not appreciating how he made the t-shirt stretch. Nope.

"Sickly kid wants to be a hero. I know. But why is Peter any different? You both wanted to fight the bad guy and defend the innocent."

Tony wasn't prepared for Steve's answer. "Because there was nothing else for me, Tony!" Not Stark. Tony. "I was a sick kid with nothing for me. I bounced from hospital to hospital when my mom could afford it. And then she was gone and it was just Bucky and I. He signed up and I knew sooner or later he would be drafted and then I would be alone."

"I-." Tony tried to speak but Steve was not letting him interrupt.

"Tell me: do you know how it feels to watch every guy in the neighborhood ship off to fight for our country while you have stay home because your lungs didn't work or you had no immune system or your bones were too frail."

Steve took a step closer. "I was nothing and I just wanted to help became I spent my entire life being nothing."

Tiny ignored the part of him that wanted to end this argument and pull Steve in for a very manly bro hug.

"But Peter ? He has the world ahead of him. He's smart, like super Stark smart. He can do whatever he wants…"

"And he wants to be an Avenger. Like us. Is there something wrong with that?" Tony challenged.

"He's just a kid," Steve repeated. "What if he gets hurt out there or worse? Do you really want his family burying him after only 15 short years?"

Tony's mind unwillingly shot back to a few weeks back before the Avengers had become a group again and Peter had joined them upstate for weekends. When Peter was lying under Megatron's claws, only one punch away from losing his life. Tony hadn't been that terrified in a while.

" He's not going to die ." Tony refused to let him get hurt on his watch. He dragged Peter into this and he would go against the devil himself, without a suit, to keep that kid safe.

"You can't-."

"Hey, Mom, Dad, maybe next time you have an argument, you should make sure the kids can't hear," Clint said from the doorway.

Both Steve and Tony turned to look at him. Next to him, Peter stood looking close to crying. He was braced against the door and staring at the two of them with wide eyes.

"Oh shit," Tony said.

Peter took a step backwards, stumbling slightly as he mumbled broken apologies.

"Kid, wait! Tony called out as Peter made a dash down the hall. He cursed again under his breath as he followed him.

He ran into his room and Tony took a deep breath before following in behind him. Peter sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard. He had his legs pulled up against his chest and he was resting his chin on his knees. He glaring at the opposite wall with watery eyes.

"Kid, I'm sorry you heard that...we should not have been shouting-."

"I heard the whole time," Peter said.

Right, Tony thought, enhanced senses.

"I tried to ignore it but then you two starting yelling...I don't, loud noises give me headaches sometimes. It's just too much."

Tony took a seat on his bed. "I know. We should be more considerate of the noise level next time." Peter had a few painful times when there were too many bright lights and too many loud noises. Tony didn't want to be the cause of one.

"He's right," Peter whispered. "I try to act like I'm not, but I'm still just a kid. I can't even drive yet and I'm fighting things that want to kill me ."

"They will not kill you," Tony said immediately. "I will not let that happen."

Peter looked at him and smiled softly. "Thanks, Mr. Stark. But you don't get to decide that."

Their conversation went silent after that and Tony looked around the room Peter was using when he stayed here. The walls were covered in Star Wars posters and other funny science related pictures.

He looked down at Peter who was curled in on himself and he looked so small.

This wasn't an adult next to him. This was just a scared kid.

Tony hesitantly wrapped an arm around his wasn't good at comforting but this seemed right.

Peter took that as invitation to lean in close. Tony ignored the surge of comfort he got from feeling Peter pressed close and safe in his hold.

While Peter was a kid, he wasn't Tony's kid. He had no right to share this moment with him. But maybe just for now, he could pretend he did. So he pulled Peter closer.

"You know," Tony whispered. "You can back down if you want. Until you're older."

"No," Peter said immediately. "I want to help. I just don't want to die," his voice cracked. "I can't do that to Aunt May."

"I meant it when I said I wouldn't let it happen, Peter. Ever fight, every battle, I have your back. And if you start sneaking off to start your own fights, please don't deactivate anything on the suit. Let, Karen was it?, let me know when you need help. And I'll be there."

Peter nodded, chuckling softly.

"Besides for the fact that you're kinda growing on me," I can't imagine my life without you anymore. " You haven't graduated yet. And if you don't think I'm going to be there on graduation day, cheering like crazy after your valedictorian speech and showing you off to all the other parents, you're crazy."

"You mean that, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked hopefully.

Tony looked down at him and met his wide eyes that were staring up at him. "If you ever mention it to anyone else, especially Clint, I will deny it. But, yeah I mean it."

Peter quickly wrapped his arms around Tony's waist. "Thank you."

Tony moved his hand from his shoulder to his back and hugged him back. "You're welcome, kid."

Yeah, Peter was the kid that ate ice cream out of the gallon while watching every Star Wars marathon. And he was the kid that decorated his walls with posters and his shelves with Lego sets. And he was still the kid that stuttered when he was nervous. And he was the kid that had special medication to keep acne away.

But he was also the kid that put on a suit every day, ready to give up his life for the rest of the world. He was the kid fighting alongside gods and men with super strength and shields and armor and training and the ability to turn into a giant monster.

Just like the rest of them, every fight he walked into, he had no idea if he was walking out of it. But that never stopped him.

"If you don't tell anyone about the hug I gave you, maybe I'll join you on the couch the next time Star Wars is on."

Peter smiled up widely at him.


	3. Chapter 3

**there are mentions of pornography in this chapter. and the f bomb is dropped several times.**

* * *

"Alright, which one of you fuckers ate the marshmallows out of the cereal?" Sam asked as he poured a bowl of Lucky Charms.

Everyone looked at Clint.

"It definitely wasn't me, if that's what you mean," Clint replied, avoiding Sam's glare.

Peter yawned as he took a seat at the table. He was not a morning person like the rest of the team was. Everyone was already seated round the table eating.

"Hey, can we keep the language to a minimum in front the kid," Tony requested as he set a bowl of oatmeal in front of Peter.

"Thanks," Peter mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Tony grinned at the boy's wild hair. He hadn't even combed it before coming down to the kitchen.

"Late night?" Steve said in amusement as he finished off his orange juice.

"What?" Peter said, obviously a bit slow in the morning. "Oh, there was a Firefly marathon."

Steve turned to Natasha and mouthed, "Firefly?"

Tony answered for her, "Sci-fi western show with Nathan Fillion. Cancelled way too early, if you ask me."

"That show had like 10 episodes." Sam made a face.

" 13 ," Tony corrected. "And a movie."

"How shitty was this show?" Clint asked, around a mouthful of cereal.

Tony's eyes flickered over to Peter but the kid looked too tired to be picking up on the language.

"You're one to talk about shitty shows. I would appreciate if you would not fill up the DVR with episodes of The Bachelor ." Sam flicked a piece of cereal at Clint.

"Hey, bird brains, next one to curse eats a bar of soap," Tony warned.

Steve chuckled. "And you mocked me ."

"S'okay, Mr. Stark. I hear way worse in the school hallways." Peter rubbed his eyes, finally looking like he was waking up.

Instead of letting the conversation drop, Clint asked "What's the worst word you've heard in the hall?"

Tony covered Peter's mouth with his hand. "Okay, we will not be discussing this."

Later on, just before breakfast ended, Peter leaned over and whispered in Clint's ear. He spilt the milk in mouth across the table all over Sam.

After that morning, things changed in the Avengers compund. Whenever Peter was visiting, Clint and Sam treated him like 'one of the guys'. They let him stay up watching R rated movies and no longer censored their mouths.

This also included, bringing Peter in on their prank war. Which pretty much summed up the maturity of the two of them.

Sam liked the well thought out pranks while Clint was more than happy with sticking a "Kick me" sign on Sam's back.

After spending day after day listening to Clint screaming, "I got you, fucknuts!" from somewhere in the vents, cursing in front of the kid didn't phase Tony as much anymore.

He didn't go near Clint's level (which was add the word "fuck" to another word, bonus points if the other word was a curse word as well), but he didn't see the harm in letting a "shit" or "asshole" slip.

Peter, to his credit, watched his language almost as well as Steve did. The only time Tony ever heard him drop the f-bomb was during a mission and he let that slide since he was dodging aliens that could vaporize him with one shot from their gun.

So, really, Peter was the most mature out of the three of them during the prank war (Tony eventually joined in when Peter asked for some tips).

Unfortunately, prank war was put to an end because of poor planning on Tony's part. He didn't know Peter had a three day weekend and was coming upstate a day early. He just knew Clint had dibbed the television that night.

Tony had completely forgotten about his prank until that night at dinner. Everyone except for Natasha was sitting around the table.

He knew something was wrong with Peter the moment he sat down. He looked a little pale and he was refusing to meet anyone's eyes. When Clint slapped him on the back as he sat down next to him, he let out a small squeak.

Tony eyed him as he took a seat next to him on the other side. He would talk to him in private later.

Steve seemed to notice something off about him too. "You feeling okay, Peter? I can always wrap yours up and you can reheat it later."

Ever since they all got back together upstate, Steve insisted on cooking the meals. Not that Tony complained because man could that guy cook.

"I-I, fine, no n-need, C-Cap," Peter stuttered out.

Tony hadn't heard him this bad since he first met him, months ago. "Kid, are you coming down with a fever." He placed the back of his hand on Peter's forehead before turning to address no one in particular of the group. "Can mutant spider kids get fevers?"

Natasha saved Peter from having to answer when she walked in. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are Steve, Clint, and Thor doing it on my television?"

Tony choked on his food. Oh shit. He totally forgot about his revenge prank on Clint. "I can explain."

"Please do." Natasha smiled, looking interested.

"It is a...prank?" He wasn't sure how else he could explain why Natasha found the porn on the television. Tony knew Clint was hogging the TV after dinner and so he found an interesting porn with three men cosplaying as Thor, Cap and Hawkeye.

"You fucking dick," Clint said but he was laughing. "You knew I have the TV tonight. Man, if Tasha hadn't ruined it, then you would have gotten me good ."

Tony laughed.

"But I may just go and watch it anyway because me and Thor and Cap ? I'm one lucky sonuva bitch." He turned to Natasha. "Scale of 1 to 10, how hot is it? What was going on? Was it bottoming...no Cap he definitely was the surprise bottom."

Tony looked over to where Steve was standing with a face redder than a fire truck. He couldn't even get any words out.

"Oh, don't look so surprised, Cap," Tony teased. "If it makes your feel any better, you were totally enjoying it." Tony winked and Steve covered his face.

"Who was topping?" Clint asked Natasha, loving the embarrassment it brought to their leader, more than the porn itself.

She casually repsonded, "Depends. You guys took turns."

Steve fell into the nearest chair, groaning. Tony smiled when he could still how red his ears were even though his face was hidden.

"I'm never leaving my room again," he muttered.

"Hey, with me in there, Cap, you never need to."

Without picking his head up, Steve chucked a fork at Clint. Clint easily ducked it, cackling the entire time.

Tony smiled, looking around the table. It felt like old times before the Accords. Tony missed this. Everybody smiling and laughing...except for Peter.

Peter looked even worse than before this conversation started. His face looked just as red as Steve's…

...Oh.

"Peter, did you watch the TV?"

Everybody quieted down and looked over at the 15 year old boy, trying his best to close in on himself. "T-there was supposed be a special on the Discovery Channel…"

"Oh, my God, you showed a minor porn."

"I-I'm sorry, M-Mr. Stark! I didn't know." Peter sounded panicked.

Tony rubbed his shoulder, laughing slightly, "It's okay, Pete. It wasn't your fault."

"It's not okay , Tony. No wonder the kid can't look me in the eye." Steve finally lifted his head off the table.

"It'll be okay." Tony waved him off. "We'll all forget about this soon."

"I promise you, I never forget that for as long as I live'" Peter deadpanned.

Clint could barely breathe because he was laughing so hard.

"That's it. You're done. The next person to pull a prank is Hawkeye's target for training next week."

Clint raised his hand and said, "Question, Cap. How am I supposed to be my own target? Because I've already got this awesome prank planned and I don't want it to go to waste."

"You'll have to get creative."

"Kinky."

Steve glared at Sam.

Okay, so maybe Tony had been careless. Hacking all of the televisions in the compound to play pretty intense porn between what looked to be three of their teammates while a 15 year old kid was living there hadn't been his best idea.

"Hey, kid, do me a favor and don't tell your Aunt May."

Peter covered his face.

Tony felt a little guilty when he saw how horrified Peter still looked. So he offered, necause it was the least he could do. "I'll pay for all the therapy."


End file.
